


Friends Until Death

by helloitshaley



Category: Addams Family - All Media Types
Genre: AU, AddamsFamilyXChange2020, Fluff, Gen, Gomez exhausts his teacher, as one would expect, they're literally children in this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:00:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28181295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helloitshaley/pseuds/helloitshaley
Summary: A new student joins Gomez's class right before Christmas, and he is convinced she is the person he has been waiting for his entire six years of life. Making her the perfect Christmas gift becomes his main goal, as well as spending every second of the day together. After all, Gomez is a rather passionate child.
Relationships: Gomez Addams/Morticia Addams
Comments: 22
Kudos: 33
Collections: Addams Family Holiday Exchange





	Friends Until Death

**Author's Note:**

> This exchange was so much fun! My prompt was number 5: AU Gomez and Morticia meet in kindergarten and become friends. I decided to put a Christmas spin on it, since its the holidays and all. I hope you enjoy!!! Happy holidays everyone!

Gomez Addams didn’t much care for the tacky decorations of his kindergarten classroom. In fact, he was probably the only 6 year old in the whole school who thought the jelly snowmen slapped to the windows would look much better melted. Nevertheless, he still found the prospect of Christmas and the holidays to be exciting. Santa had promised him a new box of cigars and an authentic 15th century battle axe this year. And if Santa didn’t deliver, he was set to shoot his sleigh out of the sky with his cannon from last year. It would be a fun day either way. 

“Gomez, welcome, welcome!” his teacher, Miss Janie, said in her overly chipper voice, as always. “Are you so excited to be at school today?” 

Gomez flashed his teacher a winning grin after saying goodbye to his mother. “As excited as always, Miss Janie.” He pulled off his miniature trench coat and hung it in his cubby. “What's for snack today? Something rancid, I’m assuming?”

Miss Janie’s fake grin slipped slightly as she looked down at her most enigmatic child. “Um, I believe Jakey brought in Oreos for us today! Isn’t that exciting?” 

Gomez’s small face fell into a frown, his tiny pencil mustache dipping along with it. “Rancid, just as I thought. Ah well, I suppose I can just eat the cookies and put the creme in my pockets for later. Much later…”

“Go wash your hands, Gomez,” Miss Janie said, her chipperness already faltering. “And no splashing the other students!”

Gomez chuckled, shoving his hands in the pockets of his suit pants. “You keep me laughing, Miss Janie. No splashing, what a gas.” 

Gomez wandered over to the sink, greeting the other students in a far more adult manner than the other 6 year olds appreciated. His hand was promptly sneezed in as he offered it to another student to shake. 

“Ah, Tyler, still fighting that cold?” Gomez shrugged, stepping up onto the stool with his little oxfords. “That's why you have to lick the monkey bars more, it will build up your immunity.”

“What's an emu monkey?” Tyler asked, rubbing his nose with his hand. “Is that one of your pets?” 

“No… not yet at least.” Gomez’s eyebrows bounced with excitement. “I’ll have Mama call my animal guy after school.” 

“You must be our new friend!” Gomez heard Miss Janie squeal from the classroom door. “Welcome to our class, Morticia! That is your name, right? I’m saying that right?”

“Yes, Miss,” came a rather quiet, morose voice.

Gomez strained to see over the cubbies and between the garland hanging from the ceiling, eager to catch a glimpse of the new kid. “Miss Janie!” he yelled, hopping off the stool. “Who's the new girl?”

“Have a seat on your carpet square, Gomez,” Miss Janie said curtly. “I will introduce our new friend at circle time.” 

Gomez frowned but did as she said, plopping down on the too brightly colored square. He huffed, trying to look over the heads of the other students as they chattered around him. Call it his manic attention span, but he was now completely focused on getting a glimpse of this new student. 

Then she walked around the cubbies and Gomez’s face split into a giant, toothy grin, though there were a few missing. He was experiencing a feeling he had never felt in his six years of life! He wanted to rush over and give the new girl a giant hug! But they had just been taught not to touch other peoples bodies, especially during class time. Still, Gomez had never been one for following the rules.

“Hi!” he yelled at her, staying seated only because Miss Janie shot him a look. “Come sit by me!”

She looked at him in shock, her dark eyes going wide. She glanced back and forth, pointing at herself as if to say, ‘me?’ 

“Yeah you!” Gomez insisted. “With the pretty braids!”

“Haha, Gomez likes a girl!” Grayson taunted from across the carpet.

“Shut up or I will puncture your lungs!” Gomez shouted back.

“Gomez,” Miss Janie said in a stern voice. “Do we need to go have a talk with Mrs. Atkins again?” 

“No,” Gomez said glumly, shooting a glance toward the sink where Morticia was washing her hands. Another long, boring talk with the principal was not something he needed today. Or any day, for that matter, though it seemed to be a regular occurrence. 

This new girl was like no creature to ever grace the kindergarten classroom! Her twin ebony braids were shiny and sleek, unlike the disheveled bedhead of his classmates. Her black dress with a stark white collar didn’t have a single wrinkle, her black tights were perfectly straight and hole free! And her face! She was so pale, so perfect, like a china doll. Gomez wanted to protect her! He wanted to share his lunch with her! He wanted to make sure she got the black marker that was completely juiced up, not dried out! 

Before he even realized what was happening, she slowly lowered herself to the carpet square next to his. He almost didn’t even notice, she moved so silently, like a cat. She glanced at him from under her long eyelashes before quickly looking away.

“Hi, I’m Gomez!” he said. “Did the teacher say your name is Morticia?” 

She nodded once and looked down at her nails, which were painted a bright red, reminding Gomez of fresh blood. “Yes.” 

“Do you want to be my friend?” he asked bluntly, as was his style. 

She nodded, a tiny smile forming on her face. “Yes, I would like that. Is that real?” She pointed at his mustache.

“I was born with it!” he enthusiastically replied. “Why are you starting school now, not at the beginning of the year? Were you doing time?”

“No, we just moved here,” Morticia said, fidgeting with one of the buttons on her dress. 

“No way! My family moved here from Spain last year!” 

“Really?” she asked, clearly intrigued. “That's very interesting. We just moved from a different town, nothing exciting. I would like to hear about Spain, though.”

“And I would love to tell you about Spain!” 

They shared a smile and Gomez began bouncing in place with excitement. He never had a friend before, let alone one as amazing as Morticia. He wanted to do everything with her! He finally had a reason to be excited about school other than helping the janitor clean out the rat traps on Fridays! 

“You can come over to my house, if you want!” Gomez excitedly began again. “We have a swamp, a pit, a dungeon, though it's empty now, we haven’t figured out what to use it for quite yet. Oh, we have a-”

Gomez was interrupted by Miss Janie clapping three times and taking a seat in her chair in the middle of the circle. “Class class!”

“Yes yes,” all the children responded in unison, and Gomez noticed Morticia visibly cringe. 

“I think it's lame too,” Gomez whispered, nudging her arm.

“Bodies to ourselves, Gomez,” Miss Janie warned. “And on that note, you may have noticed we have a new friend with us today! Morticia, why don’t you come up and introduce yourself?”

“Oh, no thank you,” Morticia said quietly, shrinking back. 

“Oh, come on, don’t be shy!” 

“Can I go with her?” Gomez asked, eager to do anything to make Morticia happy. “It might make her less shy!” 

Miss Janie sighed. Clearly deciding to pick her battles, she relented. “Very well, Gomez, come on up.”

Gomez popped to his feet, extending his hand down to Morticia. “Come on! It will be less scary this way!” 

Slowly, Morticia slipped her hand into his and stood, letting Gomez pull her up to the teacher’s chair. 

“Now, why don’t you tell your new friends your name and your favorite color?” Miss Janie suggested. “And also what you would like for Christmas.”

“I’m Morticia,” she said, quite but somewhat confident. Gomez credited himself for that. “My favorite color is black. What I want for Christmas is a guillotine for my dolls.”

“Oh no, now theres two of them,” Miss Janie muttered under her breath.

“What's a guillotine?” some kid yelled.

“Nothing!” Miss Janie replied all too quickly. “Go have a seat you two. It's… lovely to have you in class, Morticia.”

“Thank you,” she said politely, following Gomez back to their carpet squares. 

“You know, I have a guillotine at my house!” Gomez said excitedly. “It's people sized too, you can come over and use it anytime you want!”

“Gomez, quiet,” the teacher sighed as she picked up a basket from under her chair. “Now friends, we are going to do our holiday craft secret santa! I’m going to pass around this basket and you’re going to pick one number. Whoever has the same number as you is who you’ll make a christmas present for! You can paint a picture, make a card, build something with popsicle sticks! You can use whatever is in the classroom to make something nice for your friend.”

Gomez’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. He needed the same number as Morticia, and he was determined to get it no matter the cost! He watched with eager anticipation as the basket landed in Morticia’s lap.

“What number did you get?” he asked the second she plucked the small piece of paper up in her fingers. 

“Six.”

Gomez excitedly took the basket and began digging through, searching like mad for the other number six. 

“Gomez, pick one randomly,” Miss Janie scolded. “And give it to the next person.”

“Would twenty dollars change your tune?” 

“No, Gomez, no it wouldn’t.”

“Seems like you’re lying but very well.” He eyed her scuffed up shoes before begrudgingly pulling a random number from the basket. Opening it, he found he got the number 4. “No!” 

“What did you get?” Morticia asked, leaning over to look.

“4, I got blasted number 4!” His face fell into a grumpy scowl. He scanned the room, trying to get a glimpse of everyone else’s paper. Luckily, his classmates took great joy in shouting out which number they got, so it wasn’t hard to track down who had the other number 6. “Hey, Jimmy, trade numbers with me!” Gomez hissed, rushing on his knees over to the other kid.

“No,” Jimmy snapped, holding his paper tightly in his fist. “I don’t wanna.” 

With a sigh, Gomez reached into his pocket and pulled out a ten dollar bill. “Not even for ten smackers? Can you imagine the number of candy bars you can buy with this bad boy?”

Jimmy’s eyes went wide as he looked at the bill. “Probably like a hundred.”

“Exactly, and it's yours if you switch numbers with me!” Gomez tempted, waving the bill behind another student’s back so the teacher wouldn’t see. 

“Okay!”

Gomez gleefully made his way back to his square just as Miss Janie was trying to quiet the room down. “Look, I traded so we can have the same one!”

“Oh, good,” Morticia said with a soft smile. “I think you’ll be rather easy to make happy. We have a lot in common, I think.”

“And you?” Gomez asked eagerly. "Will you be easy to make happy?"

“Anything you make, I’m sure it will be wonderful,” Morticia said, gently nudging his arm.

Gomez was sure his heart was going to jump out of his chest and do cartwheels around the room. He considered having his mother call his diamond guy once he got home, but considering the gift had to be made in class, he didn’t think it would go over well if he showed up with a set of priceless earrings or a necklace that weighed more than she did. 

Gomez was nearly buzzing with eager excitement, ready to get started on his Christmas present, but his plan was halted by the teacher telling them to line up to go to Spanish class. Gomez frowned, his mood deflating.

“Miss Janie, seeing as I already know Spanish, may I be excused to work on my present?”

“No, Gomez, get in line. There is no way I can just leave you in the room, there will be no room when we get back.”

Gomez glanced around at all the decorations, his nose wrinkling in disgust. “Would that be so bad?”

Morticia laughed softly, and Gomez felt bats go off in his stomach at the sound. He wanted to make it happen a million more times. He didn’t mind so much having to go to Spanish class if it meant he got to be with Morticia.

In fact, every single activity was spent together for the rest of the day. He made Morticia laugh again when he corrected the Spanish teacher. They were on the same team for soccer in gym, where Morticia kicked the ball into the teacher’s face. Gomez almost laughed until he peed his pants at that. At recess they dug several graves for some of the classroom dolls, which they planned on burying together the next day. Gomez was so thrilled to finally find another kid he felt so connected to. All through preschool and the first half of kindergarten he felt so isolated. Now he finally had a friend so special he would do anything for her.

“I need help,” Gomez said in all seriousness, approaching Miss Janie with his construction paper bat.

“You certainly do,” she replied. “That bat is from Halloween.”

“I know, it's perfect,” he said with a grin. “I need help with writing. I need you, with this silver marker, to write down, ‘whatever souls are made of, yours and mine are the same.’”

Miss Janie blinked at Gomez a few times, and he was tempted to ask her what the problem was. “Um, Gomez, where did you hear that quote?”

“Wuthering Heights, Miss Janie, my favorite bedtime story.”

“I, uh, I don’t know how child appropriate that is…” 

Gomez rolled his eyes and pulled the cap off the marker. “Very well, if you don’t want to write it just tell me how to spell it.”

“Who is this for?” Miss Janie asked, momentarily distracting Gomez with her gaudy, swinging, yellow earrings. 

“Ah, yes, Morticia. The new girl.” He grinned happily, tapping the paper bat. “Now, if you wouldn’t mind. Do you want me to repeat the quote for you?”

“Gomez, that is a bit adult-”

“Please! Do you want five dollars? Or I could give you five dollars a letter?” He reached into the pocket of his small suit and pulled out a money clip. “Name your price.”

“Gomez, for the last time, I can’t take your money and also you shouldn’t even bring that to school! Someone could try and steal it.”

Gomez laughed and tucked his money away. “It's merely petty cash, Miss Janie. If they’re so desperate, they can have it.”

“Your attitude towards money is very upsetting.” 

“Will you write the quote or not? I can just take this home and ask Mama.” Gomez’s patience was growing thin. He wanted this gift to be nothing short of perfect, why did his teacher insist on making that so difficult?

Miss Janie let out a pensive sigh before reluctantly taking the marker. “Very well, Gomez. But maybe I should talk with your mother about what she’s reading you.”

“No need, I’ve already informed her that my bedtime stories are too simple,” Gomez said with a flippant shrug. 

Miss Janie shook her head, sliding the bat back to him. “And we need to make sure we’re keeping our friendships kindergarten appropriate.” 

He raised an eyebrow before chuckling in amusement. “What could be more appropriate than giving your best friend a thoughtful gift with a spot on quote from a very amusing love story?”

“Amusing?” 

“Very.” 

“Gomez, what I really don’t understand is how you speak like a little man yet the other day I caught you licking an earthworm,” Miss Janie said, rubbing her forehead in exasperation.

“Earthworms are delicious, have you ever tried one? Mama makes the best earthworm casserole, I could ask her to make you some, if you would like!”

“No, no, just go sit and continue working on your present.”

Gomez grinned happily and skipped back to the craft table. He needed to get his hands on the black glitter before anyone else did. “If anyone touches the black glitter they will have to sword fight me!” he declared before crashing into his seat.

“Who uses black glitter for Christmas?” Gracie asked as she dumped a heap of green glitter onto a piece of cardboard.

“Me and my new best friend,” Gomez said matter of factly. He turned over his shoulder to gaze longingly at Morticia, who was sitting at a separate craft table. As much as it pained him, they couldn’t see what the other was making. It would ruin the whole surprise. 

“I think she’s weird,” Ellie said flippantly.

“I think you’re weird and ugly!” Gomez instantly shot back, which resulted in Ellie bursting into tears on the spot. Gomez rolled his eyes. He couldn’t get in trouble now, he had to finish his present! “Stop crying!”

“But you’re so mean!” Ellie blubbered.

“I am not! I’m not the one calling other people weird! Stop crying and I will give you a water buffalo!” 

“I hate you and your tiny mustache!”

“I hate you and your red hair!” 

“Am I hearing not nice words over here?” Miss Janie called from the table she was working at.

“Gomez said I’m weird and ugly!” Ellie yelled.

“She called Morticia weird first!” Gomez yelled back, his face growing red with annoyance as well as anger. 

Morticia picked up her head, her eyebrows creasing slightly before she turned back to what she was working on. Gomez instantly felt guilty, the last thing he wanted was for Morticia to hear that. Stupid Ellie. He always knew she was no good ever since that day she came in with her obnoxious pink hair bow and matching, sparkling rain boots. No taste whatsoever. 

“I only want to hear kind words with our friends, understood?” Miss Janie said in a very tired tone, clearly not wanting to do any real disciplining. 

Gomez grumbled some half assed apology and turned back to his present. Then all too soon it was time to go home, but he wasn’t finished! Instead of putting his project in the cupboard like the other children, he snuck it into his backpack, along with a few supplies he would be ‘borrowing’ from the classroom. 

“Gomez, your mother is here,” the teacher said from the doorway. 

Gomez felt immediate disappointment that he wasn’t expecting. He turned to Morticia and abruptly threw his arms around her. “I can’t wait to see you tomorrow! I will see you tomorrow, right?”

She smiled softly and hugged him back. “I’ve been told school is a daily thing. And I have to give you your gift.”

“Capital!” he cried, not wanting to let go, but doing so anyway. “Have a good night, Morticia!”

“Come on, Gomez, Lurch is parked in a handicapped spot!” Mama yelled from the door.

“You better go,” Morticia said. “Goodbye.”

“Bye!” Gomez said enthusiastically, his head turned back toward her as he rushed toward the door, which resulted in him smacking into the cubbies and falling to the floor. “I’m okay!” he yelled, popping back up. “That was fun!”

The last thing he heard as his mother pulled him out of the room was Morticia’s soft, perfect laugh. “Oh, Mama… I’m in love.”

“Oh boy,” Mama groaned. “It only took you six years.” 

“I’m going to marry her one day!” 

“Yeah, yeah, we’ll see about that.” 

…

“Gomez, what are you still doing up?” Gomez heard his mother’s voice from the door to the library. “I put you to bed hours ago! What, are the nails not sharp enough on your bed?”

“No, Mama, they’re perfect,” Gomez muttered, his eyes focused on the many art supplies spread out on the bear skin rug in front of him. “What isn’t yet perfect is Morticia’s present!”

Mama walked over to look at the mess on the floor. “It's a paper bat, what's there to get so worked up over?” 

“Exactly! It's just a paper bat with a silly quote written in subpar handwriting! I need Morticia to love it, I need to sweep her off her feet!”

“Gomez… you’re six years old, you’re not sweeping anyone off their feet,” Mama said with a yawn. “You get twenty more minutes, then I want you in bed, understood?”

“Understood. Do we have any loose diamonds?”

“Of course, but you aren’t going down to the vault alone so you’re just going to have to make do. Goodnight, Gomez.”

“Unpleasant dreams, Mama.” 

Gomez sighed and turned back to the bat. It wasn’t enough! Sure the edges were perfectly lined with black glitter, sure the quote was heartfelt, sure it was black, Morticia’s favorite color, and of course it was within the guidelines of the project, but he couldn’t help but feel like it was lacking something. One thing was for sure, there would be no sleeping for him until he made it perfect.

…

Gomez, for once in his rather short life, was beyond thrilled for a school party. He woke his mother up bright and early so he could look his very best. To be fair, he never actually went to sleep in the fist place and just wanted to get on with the day. He put on his best suit, slicked his hair, and combed down his tiny mustache and was ready for the day.

“Bye, Mama!” he said before taking off into the classroom, barely sparing the teacher a hello. Much to his delight, Morticia was already there, washing her hands at the sink. “Morticia!” he exclaimed, rushing to the sink and nearly knocking other kids down in the process. 

She turned, a twinkle in her dark eyes as she saw him. “Hi, Gomez!” 

He crashed into her, nearly knocking her off the stool as he gave her a big hug. “I missed you!”

“Gomez, are we being responsible with our body?” Miss Janie yelled from the door.

“I sure think so,” he sighed. “You smell like arsenic.”

“Thank you. You smell like cigars.” 

“I just had one in the car!” he exclaimed. “I can’t wait to give you your gift later at the party. Unfortunately we have to go visit Santa Claus first, and watch some boring movie, but then I’m going to knock your socks off!”

“I hope you like what I made you,” Morticia said quietly, twirling the end of one of her braids. 

“You could spit in my hand and I would be grateful,” Gomez said sincerely. 

Morticia laughed, making Gomez grin widely. He wanted to tell her that her laugh was present enough, but Miss Janie didn’t give him the chance.

“Everyone line up to go see Santa Claus!” 

Gomez grumbled, but at least he got to stand in line with Morticia. They talked the whole way to the set up ‘Santa’ room. Gomez laughed as he laid his eyes on the man in the cheap suit. Clearly it wasn’t the real Santa, the real Santa wouldn’t have a pleather belt, but he didn’t feel like getting in trouble if he spoke up on the subject, so he behaved. 

Morticia had her turn before him, and he wished he could hear what she said to the imposter! He wanted to give her everything she asked for! He was bouncing up and down with anticipation as Morticia jumped off the man’s lap and he was next.

“Okay, listen, old chap,” Gomez began as he hopped up on fake Santa’s lap. “I know you aren’t the real deal, but you probably know the real deal so listen up!” He impulsively reached for a cigar in his pocket but remembered those weren't allowed at school and continued on. “That girl you just spoke with, yeah, I’m in love with her. I know, I know, you’re going to tell me I’m just a child, and this is very true, but I am a passionate child! I am filled to the brim with emotion!” He took the Santa's face in his hands, nearly tugging off his beard in the process. 

“Gomez, keep it appropriate and short!” Miss Janie scolded as his volume began to rise. 

“Ah yes,” he sighed, calming down a bit. “In summation, all I want for Christmas is for Morticia to have everything she wants and more. And I would like to marry her one day, but I think that's more up to her than it is to you. Alright, good talk, happy holidays and all, give the real Santa my best.” 

Gomez jumped down, leaving Santa stunned as he skipped over to sit beside Morticia on a dusty couch. 

“He smelled like whiskey,” Morticia whispered to him.

“Huh, I thought that smell was familiar! He smells like my mother.” 

“Lovely,” Morticia said with a grin. 

…

Finally, after being tortured with some horrible movie about a talking snowman, it was time to exchange presents. “I want to go first!” Gomez yelled, leaping out of his tiny desk chair and bolting over to the cubbies.

“We’re all going at the same time,” Miss Janie said with a weary sigh. “So I suppose everyone may go find their gift and get with their partner.”

Ignoring the swirl around him, Gomez ran to his backpack and pulled out the glittery bat. “Merry Christmas!” he all but screamed, taking Morticia’s hand and pulling her back toward the reading nook. He held out the bat, which he turned into an ornament, that had the Wuthering Heights quote on one side and a very close up picture of his face glued to the other. He thought his face is what gave it the special something it was missing. “Oh, um, it says, ‘whatever souls are made of, yours and mine are the same. Do you like it?”

Morticia bit her lip, turning the bat back and forth to look at the quote and then his face. “Gomez, I love it. I’m going to hang it right in the middle of our tree when I get home. It's perfect! Thank you. Our tree was much too bright and colorful, this is exactly what it needed.”

Gomez let out a sigh of relief. “I’m so happy you like it! I wanted to give you earrings, but it had to be home made and Mama won’t let me go to the vault by myself anyway.”

“This is much more special. Do you want to see what I made you?”

“Yes!” 

Morticia reached into her pocket and pulled out what appeared to be a black pipe cleaner bracelet with white letter beads. Gomez beamed as he twirled the beads around to read, ‘frnds till death m + g.’ 

“Friends till death?” Gomez said happily, sliding the bracelet down his wrist.

“I hope so, at least,” Morticia said with a shrug.

“Hope no more! It will be!” he pulled Morticia into a tight hug. “Merry Christmas, Tish.” 

“Merry Christmas… Mez.”

30 years later

“Merry Christmas, Tish!” Gomez cried with childlike glee, abruptly waking Morticia up.

She smiled sleepily, cracking her eyes open. “You’re far worse than the children.” 

He laughed, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “Come on, several of the presents down there are explosive. I want Wednesday and Pugsely to open them while there is still something to open!”

“I’m coming, I’m coming, but first…” she slid out of bed and pulled on her robe. “I want to show you something.”

“Oh, it's a happy holiday indeed,” he said with a grin, lounging back on the bed.

Morticia rolled her eyes before disappearing into the closet. She emerged a few moments later, holding a rather flimsy, very glittery, crudely cut out paper bat. Gomez laughed, hopping off the bed to get a better look.

“You kept this?” he asked, lifting the limp wings. “Wow, I remember it looking a whole lot better than this.”

“It was perfect then and it's perfect now. I’ve had it in a box in the closet but I thought I should go hang it up instead of keeping it hidden away.” Morticia smiled softly and kissed his cheek. 

“And you know, I’ve kept that bracelet all these years,” he said, sliding his arm around her waist to pull her close. “I’m only disappointed that it's too small for me to continue to wear.”

“Perhaps an upgrade is in order,” Morticia said with a smirk. “Maybe I can have one made out of bone beads this time.”

“Oh, yes, keep it as a surprise for next Christmas, though,” Gomez said with a grin. “I told you we would be friends until death… And then some. Merry Christmas, Tish.”

“Merry Christmas, Mez.”

He let out a laugh. “Only you can get away with calling me that. Now, let's go down stairs, I believe there are several sprigs of mistletoe waiting for us.”


End file.
